News & Blogs

News posts

When a stray Rufous Hummingbird from the West came to the Museum in early December, no one thought she’d stay through snow, wind, and below-freezing nights—let alone until spring.

Still in the bushes on the equinox, this “vagrant,” the official term for migrators outside their range, is the first stray hummingbird in recent memory to overwinter in New York. En route to her wintering grounds in Mexico, she likely miscalculated the angle of her flight path south, landing her in the Museum’s shrubs outside the 81st Street entrance.

The Wall Street Journal recently hosted a video segment at the Museum’s Rose Center for Earth and Space. Watch the clip below to hear Department of Astrophysics Chair and Curator Mordecai-Mark Mac Low explain the science behind the Northern Lights and their relation to the Sun.

In early January, the Museum posted a Science Bulletin showing humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins apparently at play in the wild. Off the coast of Hawaii, whales repeatedly lifted dolphins from the ocean and let them slide down their heads back into the water. If you haven’t already, watch the viral video below, which recently reached 1.5 million views on YouTube.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the Museum. Click here to learn more.

Be one of the first to fly around the Hayden Planetarium Sphere as part of this 200-person cooperative space game custom designed for the dome. The game transforms the theater into a living, breathing space ship where participants navigate through a fictitious universe.

Kerbal Space Program

Build a space-worthy craft that can safely fly your crew through space using the parts at your disposal. Each has its own function and will affect the way a ship flies—or doesn’t!